How To Budget A Film Between $700k and $2 Million
Other education that may be of interest to you:
Create A Professional Budget & Schedule For Your Feature Film
A New Exclusive Lab from Stage 32 Only 9 Spots Still Available - Grab your spot before they sell out! Payment Plans Available - Contact edu@stage32.com Build your professional feature film budget step-by-step with guidance from an accomplished film producer and member of the DGA. Receive exclusive handouts, including a sample feature film budget. Your script is finished, and you are ready to make your film. You’re starting to think about your team and how you will shoot it. It’s getting exciting, but before you can put anything into motion to make your feature film production happen, you need a solid, professional budget in hand. The budget is the first true building block of transforming your script into a brilliant film. It doesn’t matter if you’re self-financing a micro-budget feature or hunting for investors on a multi-million dollar indie film, you and any producers or potential financiers need to know the real costs before production begins, and it is the key to ensuring you finish your film on time and for the money you have. In this exclusive Stage 32 lab, you’ll work with an accomplished film producer over eight sessions to build a professional working budget and schedule for your feature film. You’ll cover everything from how to break down your script for a budget to your cast and crew to post-production and distribution. You'll also create a schedule for your production so you can tangibly see how you'll make your project a reality. And you’ll meet one-on-one with your mentor at the end of the lab so that you walk away with a budget that has been vetted by an industry expert. Taking you through the step-by-step process of creating your film's budget is producer and filmmaker Julie Buck. As a producer, line producer, production manager, and member of the Directors Guild of America, Julie has budgeted and scheduled hundreds of independent films. Julie's work has been screened at festivals, including Tribeca, South by Southwest, London Film Festival, and Sundance, among others. She's worked with A-list talent throughout her career, including Claire Danes, Jim Parsons, Octavia Spencer, Anjelica Huston, and Bill Pullman. With a limited number of spots available, you’re guaranteed a personal experience and meaningful feedback, with weekly assignments to ensure you’re moving your budget forward and being held accountable. Not only that, Julie will provide you with exclusive handouts to help you through this process that you can keep and continue to learn from on your future productions. But act fast! These spots to work directly with Julie won’t last long. And once they’re gone, we’re not adding more. Start your New Year by taking this crucial step to make your film a reality in 2023 and walk away with a professional feature film budget and schedule - the essential roadmap for your project.
How To Create a Professional Budget For Your Under $300K Film + Handouts To Help You Create Your Budget & Secure Financing
Learn how to budget out your under $300k film so you can make the project you envision from a producer and filmmaker whose projects have screened at Sundance, Tribeca, South by Southwest, London Film Festival, and more! Are you a filmmaker with a story to tell but you don't have access to big financing sources? You may not realize that your vision can be achieved for less money than you think and, by doing so, you can make a grand statement to the world about your talent. For filmmakers and storytellers, a film with a budget below $300,000 can be a phenomenal opportunity to launch your career or see your creative vision become a reality on screen. These low-budget films are incredibly enticing to financiers who are more open to hearing from fresh voices when they're not spending millions. And agents, managers, and executives are often blown away by an artist's creativity when they work with lower budgets. It's a calling card. But in order to make it happen, you’ll first need to present how you’ll achieve your vision at such a low cost by building a realistic and professional budget and schedule that show you are prepared to make and deliver your film. That is an art in itself. Producer and filmmaker Julie Buck will teach you everything you need to know to accomplish this goal. As a producer, line producer, production manager, and member of the Directors Guild of America, Julie has budgeted and scheduled hundreds of independent films. Julie’s work has been screened at festivals including Tribeca, South by Southwest, London Film Festival, and Sundance, among others. She's worked with A-list talent throughout her career, including Claire Danes, Jim Parsons, Octavia Spencer, Anjelica Huston, and Bill Pullman. Over four sessions of this exclusive Stage 32 intensive class, you’ll immerse yourself in how to build a realistic budget in this price range by breaking down your script costs accurately, conveying everything your physical production requires, and understanding above-the-line vs. below-the-line costs. You’ll then move onto equipment, transportation, and legal considerations that are imperative for any budget, and ensure that your numbers cover everything through post-production. Once you’ve built out your budget, you’ll learn how to find financing, even if you don’t think you have those connections yet. In addition to Julie’s wealth of experience, she’ll be providing you with exclusive handouts to help you create your budget that can be used to find financing, including: Breakdowns Schedules Budgets Union sheets How to determine rates and working with SAG Testimonials from Julie's previous Stage 32 Courses: "Julie is beyond informative and helpful. Thanks to her, I actually see a clear path to production on my first feature." - Tiffany R. "Huge thanks to Julie for sharing her wealth of knowledge with our class. Her expertise is evident in her teaching. Well done." - Sebastian L.
How to Get Your Project into Film Festivals
A New Exclusive Webinar! Learn how to package and submit your film to festivals, taught by an Oscar-qualifying festivals programmer. If you’re looking to produce and sell your own feature or short film project, film festivals will be crucial to your success. Countless filmmakers have launched successful films and careers using film festivals, such as Ryan Coogler, Quentin Tarantino, Catherine Hardwicke, Lulu Wang, Barry Jenkins, Robert Rodriguez, Wes Anderson, Chloé Zhao, and many more. For you to have the same shot at success as these renowned filmmakers, you’ll need a strong strategy for your project. And in this exclusive Stage 32 webinar, we’ll show you how. In this webinar, you’ll learn how to prepare, package, and submit your film to the gatekeepers of the film festival circuit. This process is just as vital as the final cut of your film, and it should be your priority to market yourself and your project correctly across the festival submission landscape. By demystifying this process, you’ll be able to define your goals and be prepared for the best possible outcome when you go out to festivals. Taking you behind the curtain of the festival circuit is Greg Sorvig, who leads the artistic vision and film programming department for Heartland Film and its Academy Award-qualifying Indy Shorts International Film Festival and Heartland International Film Festival events. In his role, Greg serves as the organization’s liaison with major studios, producers, and filmmakers. He is also the Senior Associate Programmer for the Tribeca Festival Shorts team. Greg regularly serves as an international film festival juror, industry panelist, and mentor for top 20 film schools, including USC and DePaul University. Greg’s many roles give him an insider perspective on what films get into festivals and why, as well as why certain films are more successful than others. And it is this insider knowledge that Greg is providing you with as you build your festival strategy. Greg will show you where and how to submit, how to avoid scams, how to know your project is ready, how to package it, how to budget and understand festival timelines, and so much more. Plus, for those who join Greg for the live stream of this webinar, you’ll be able to ask Greg any questions about festivals and your project. Don’t miss out on your chance to learn from Greg, develop your film festival strategy, and take control of your project’s future. PRAISE FOR GREG'S EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE: “It came as a big, pleasant surprise that MTV Documentary Films acquired ‘76 Days’ during the Heartland International Film Festival. Even in our challenging time of COVID-19, film festivals are continuing to play a crucial role in supporting independent films and filmmakers,” said Hao Wu. “I’m extremely grateful to Artistic Director Greg Sorvig and the Heartland International Film Festival team for having made this acquisition possible.” -- Hao Wu, Director 76 Days (Emmy Winner, Oscar Shortlist) “Greg and the team know how to not only run a slick and professional festival, but also be openly available to chat to and relax with as well. We cannot recommend this festival enough - it's got the charm, the know-how and the open arms of everything a filmmaker needs from a festival.” -- Katie McCullough, Founder of Festival Formula, Ltd.
Get The Inside Scoop From Film Investors On How They Make Decisions
Have you ever wondered what the people you want to invest in your projects are thinking? Wouldn’t it be great if you could be in the room for the conversations and debates that lead to a project getting the money needed for production? This is your chance to find out. In this exclusive Stage 32 webinar, the co-founders of the film finance company Creativity Capital will answer the most commonly asked questions from producers and filmmakers just like you while sharing exactly what investors are thinking when they’re choosing projects. Creativity Capital co-founders Patrick Fischer and Richard Kondal have spent the last seven years financing films for Netflix, BBC Films, Universal Pictures, and many more. They specialize in financing solutions for global content productions. Patrick is a film producer and creative entrepreneur who has executive produced over 40 films, including the BAFTA-winning UNDER THE SHADOW and the acclaimed documentary feature MCQUEEN. Richard is a film producer, passionate entrepreneur, and post-production veteran. He has spent the past decade working in the film industry with well-known directors such as Mike Figgis, Stephen Frears, and Michael Winterbottom. In addition to answering your most pressing questions, Patrick and Richard will discuss how to structure your finance plan, how to approach investors, and how to close the deal. You will have an insider’s look at what goes into choosing which movies get financing and why exclusively from this webinar. Don’t miss out on this extraordinary opportunity to see how you can set your own project up for investment success!
Micro-Webinar + Extended Q&A: The Road to the Oscars: How You (Yes, You!) Can Qualify Your Film For an Academy Award and Actually Score an Oscar Nomination
It’s the dream of almost every filmmaker to one day get nominated for and win an Academy Award. It’s the gold standard that everyone strives for—from burgeoning film students to Leonardo DiCaprio. Yet this goal can also feel utterly unattainable. It’s The Oscars after all. Awards go to Meryl Streep and Martin Scorsese, not to me. Believe it or not, you absolutely have a path to the Oscars. It’s more possible than you think, and countless talented independent filmmakers find their way through the nomination process without big money, without big celebrities, and without big studio backing, but instead with just a really fantastic project. Don’t throw that dream away. There’s a road to the Oscars that you can take. Finding your way into the Oscars Ceremony is possible, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or just happens organically. The Academy Awards are a competition, and like any competition, they come with rules and regulations, procedures, and strategies to win. If you want to one day see Oscar gold, you need to make a fantastic film, but you also have to understand the ins and outs of the awards, the politics that surround it, and where you can best fit in. Let’s explore. Daniel Sol is the co-founder and co-director of the Oscar-qualifying Hollyshorts Film Festival and has helped multiple filmmakers through the Oscar qualification process, including the short film SKIN which won the Academy Award after premiering and qualifying at his festival. Daniel was formerly a theatrical sales executive before he founded HollyShorts as a response to seeing that young filmmakers had little access to industry professionals and few options for screening their films. Now in its 17th year, HollyShorts has quickly become the most influential short film festival in Los Angeles, with Daniel guiding it as Festival Director and lead programmer for the festival. Daniel is also the co founder of the premium Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Apple TV content channel BITPIX. Daniel’s long experience at the helm of an Academy-qualifying film festival has given him a unique perspective on what it actually takes for filmmakers to find their way to an Oscar nomination. Exclusively for Stage 32, Daniel is going to break down exactly what it takes to qualify your film for an Academy Award and the steps you can take to score a nomination or even become an Oscar winner. He’ll lay out how the Academy nomination process works and will dive into current trends, explaining what sort of themes and genres are more likely to ultimately get nominated. He will then break down the qualification process and the different ways you can get your own project qualified, including through qualifying festivals and other avenues. Daniel will finally talk about steps you can take and what to expect after your film is qualified, including strategies to better your chances of hopefully getting nominated. Becoming an Oscar-nominated filmmaker is not as out of reach as you may think, and Daniel will break down what you can do to better make this dream a reality.
How a CAM Account Saves You Time and Worry
Filmmaking isn’t just an artform, it’s a business. As a creative, you might not be aware of how you can ensure you receive your fair share of the revenue or properly negotiate for it. With the right agreement in place, you can focus on producing a great story that audiences will love without worrying about how the money will come later. What you need is a CAM Agreement. The CAM Agreement, short for Collection Account Management, is a multiparty agreement that handles the receipt, allocation, and disbursement of revenues generated by the distribution of a project. In short, a CAM Agreement is how you get paid when the project sells. It protects everyone’s interests and eliminates misunderstandings between partners by ensuring everyone enters the project on the same page and puts everyone on a Recoupment Schedule so that you know when and how you’re getting paid. With so many platforms and distribution markets to consider, revenue is never as simple as selling the project one time. It covers payment of revenues, commissions, expenses, recoupment investments, deferments, bonuses, and profits. David Zannoni is a consultant for Fintage House, where he's seen first-hand the benefit of these agreements through his work negotiating for films and television series internationally, regularly attending the major film festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and more. David will walk you and the other attendees of this Stage 32 webinar exclusively through the key elements of the CAM Agreement, what’s covered, standard clauses, the different kinds of CAM Agreements you’ll need for the different guilds, and how the agreement will evolve and be used in the future. By knowing the benefits of these agreements from someone who regularly uses them, you’ll have the ability to negotiate better for yourself and your project, empowering you to stress less about how you’ll make your money back and focus instead on telling a great story.
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